Receptacle opener



July 25, 1938. s. 'BATDORF I 2,124,522

REGEPTACLE OPENER Filed May 8, 1935 a'urBaJZZpr G Patented July 26, 1938 RECEPTACLE OPENER Seymour Batdorf, Lancaster, Pa., assignor to Liberty Can and Sign Company, Lancaster, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application May 8, 1935, Serial No. 20,496

3 Claims. (01. 220-43) This invention relates to receptacle openers of the pry-bar type for cone-type-friction seal plugs employed to close or seal such receptacles, and also to the combination of such an opener with 5 a special construction of such a sealing plug.

The primary objects of the present invention are to provide such an opener which may be freely moved peripherally about the rim or bead of the plug to be used to successively pry against the end of the receptacle at different points adjacent the periphery of the plug and which will remain at all times permanently though loosely applied to the plug so as to be removed therewith and applied therewith to the receptacle, whereby 15. the receptacle may be opened and resealed repeatedly a number of times and the opener will always be available to facilitate the opening; to provide such an opener which will not injure the top of the receptacle nor scratch or mar the finish of the said top; to provide an opener having a stiflly resilient prying leg and foot bearing with a cam action on the top of the receptacle and exerting a spring pressure in the final stages of its operation to aid in lifting the sealing plug, such resilient characteristic also contributing to the avoidance of marring the finish of the top of the receptacle; to provide such'an opener which will not tightly frictionally engage anyedge, face or portion of the plug or top of the receptacle in 39 its retracted or inoperative position or in any intermediate position when not exerting intentionally a lifting leverage on the top of the receptacle, whereby the opener may be freely and easily shifted in a peripheral direction from point 35 to point about the periphery of the sealing plug without jamming or binding or sticking in one position and without risk of being damaged or twisted by the exertion of too much force by the operator in his impatience in trying to shift it 40, peripherally and which, if the opener jammed in position might result simply in twisting the opener off of the plug and destroying its furtherusefulness instead of sliding it peripherally about the plug as intended; to so form and-combine the 45 opener and plug that in the normal inoperative.

ments responsible for maintaining their permanent loose connection will besafeguarded against 55; excessive movement of the parts which might result otherwise in their deformation and separation.

Herein I illustrate and describe simply the present preferred embodiment of my invention merely by Way of illustration of the practice of my in- 5 vention as by law required. However, I am well aware that my invention is capable of various embodiments and that the several details thereof may be modified in different ways, all without departing from my said invention, and, there- 10 fore, the accompanying drawing and description herein are to be considered as merely illustrative and not exclusive.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 represents a top plan view of a receptacle with a sealing plug and opener embodying my invention applied thereto;

Figure 2, a sectional view on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction ofthe arrows;

Figure 3, a view similar to Fig. 2, the opener being in intermediate position;

Figure 4, a view similar to Fig. 2, the can body being omitted and the lifter or opener shown in its extreme outwardly rotated or lifting position; and

Figure 5, a sectional view on line 5-5 of Fig. 1 showing the slightly arched and rib braced and stiffened construction of the lifter lever F.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, A designates the body of a can or receptacle; B, the top thereof; C, the usual end seam; D, the usual very slightly downwardly tapering or cone form seat defining the receptacle opening; E, the usual cone type sealing plug or closure of the friction sealing type making a tight sealing fit in said seat; and F, the handle or main operating lever of the lifter or opener.

The lever F is formed of relatively heavy stiff sheet steel, or preferably so, and its radially outer portion is preferably slightly upwardly arched or 40 curved in cross-section and preferably formed with an upwardly pressed longitudinally extending rib f to stiffen and strengthen it'lengthwise and it will preferably be so formed and bent lengthwise that no part of the lifter will extend above the top of seam C and so that the inner portion of the lever F will rest on the top of the plug E while the extreme inner end portion will be bent up away from the upper face of the plug E to facilitate the grasping and movement of the lever F incident to its opening or lifting operation. f

The radially'outer portion ofthelever F lies or rests against the topsurface of the upwardly and outwardly curvedand flaring peripheral rim eof the plug E and at this point is provided with preferably integral side extensions 5, the radially outer portions of these extensions 5 being separated by a cut or slot from the rest of :the lifter andbeing downwardly and radially inwardly bent to constitute retaining and thrust hooks or fingers l, and the radially inner'portions of said side eXtensions are bent downward to constitute retaininglugs 9 in any given position of rotation of which in'a vertical plane about the rim of the plug E some portion of their radially outer faces. will contact with some portion of the radially inner face of the wall of the plug E or of its e to prevent the radially outward movement of the hooks or fingers l to such extent that their; 7

radially inner ends will clear the edge 6 of the open external bead or curl e of the plug E. I In otherwords the function of the lugs; 51 isfitol-imit the radiallyioutward movement of the lifter I} a whole so as to prevent its separation from the plug- E. In view of, the fact that. the plug Ev is of general frusto-conical formand is curved;

cross-section adjacent the point'of; mergence b.e-,

tween its side wall and bottom, the lugs 9 will preferably nctbeftruly verticalibut will preferincline downwardly and inwardly to be sub- 'stantially parallel to the adjacent opposed 1301'":

tion of the Vertically disposed or' inclined por- V tioniof the plug and willihave their lower ends bent inwardly slightly,'so that when the lifter is in normal. position with its inner end resting onv the 'upper face of the plugiE, asillustrated in Fig. 2, the lugs 9 will lie very close to the wall of the plug E but will not'be in contact, or in subc gral radially outward extending portion extend- 7 give it strength and rigidity and being in this;

ing beyond the side extensions 5 and constituting a prying-a rm l, which is preferablys'lightly'upwardly arched: in cross-section and preferably has a longitudinally extending reinforcing rib" J? to respect simply a continuation of the lever F; Aipreferably integral stiff preferably semi-rigidpreferably' slightly resilient lifter leg 2 depends downwardly almost vertically from the outer end .of' arm I on an abrupt curve and is inclined very slightly r'adiallyoutwardly to its lower end where: it"is provided with an abrupt bend "to -give a' curved bearing. portion 3 which. is continued ups ward by a'shortvfoot 4 closely app oaching the vertical and yet' very slightly: inclined radially outwardly 5 and upwardly, said .footrd and the curved or bent portion sfvpreferably being also of the same preferably semi-rigid preferably slightly resilient construction andlmaterial as the leg Zandpreferably being integral therewith."

i Preferably the radially inner end portions of c 1 thefin'gers l will bereduced in} thickness iii ver-i tical cross-section as illustrated, toavoidinter- 1 fering with; theproper seating of the sealing p1U 5E; L; e Preferablythe plug E will be formed with'efan external bead or lirnit andsealing face adjacent its rim'e, said external bead or shoulder 8 havingits. lower facelocated below the lowest portions as otherwise might be interposed between, and engaged onopposite faces by, the opposing faces 7 of the rim of said plugE and the top of the can, and so prevents interference by said fingers or hooks 1 with theproper seating and sealing of, the plug E. Of course, in such case, the conical portion of the vertically inclined wall of the plug 'E below said shoulder or head 8 will be made of such size and shape as to make a tight frictional sealing fit in the seat D.

' Of course it would seem' apparent that the should'eni-f employed, may be formed in any suitable or practical and'knownmanner, as by form-f f ing a bead 8 as illustrated or by making a two diameter plug,jthe inward olfset between the large and smalldi'ameters forming the shoulderll, or

substantially the. same result might be accomv'plished. bysuddenly increasing the upward and outward flare of the cone to abruptly change the angle; of thenexternal cone face, the formand relationship o-f the hooks or fingers: 1 and lugs 19 being rncdified as might be made necessaryghy any such changed cross-sectional form of the wall of the plug E in order thatutheir functions: may be; retained unimpaired. f V V In operation, with the plug E driven tightly D and with the parts in normal position as illustrated, it being desiredto lift the plug E out,the innerend of the lever 'F is gripped and rotated 7 about the rim 'e until the rounded face 73 engages: the upper face of the top 3 and at whichftimethe, fingers 1 will be; hooked under the curlii with their tips thrusting against the external upper V of the fingers or hooks 1, or such portions thereof 7 home into frictionalsealing contactwithits; seat portion of the plug E at its point of mergenee V with the rim e, and continued vertical, movement f;

or rotation of thelever F will cause the camsurface 3 to swing about the tips of said fingers 1' as a sliding fulcrum point} as said cam surface 3' itselfmoves'in slidingccontact as a fulcrum point and upwardthrust against the upper part of the plug Einman inclined straight line extending from 'the'point of contact between the-cam face 3and the top- B-of the canto the point, of 'contactbe-J tweenthe, tips ofyfingers I and the upper part of theplllg-E, the: position and inclination of said line of thrust shifting progressively as the ,lever Fis rotated through its-range of operativemov ment,

' with theztop of thecan exerting a radially'inward,

Assthe leverFis thus moved or rotated about 7 the rim e of plug E to lift the ;latter the leg 2 will move intosubstantially vertical or slightly l past vertical position by the" time the curved or cam portion. 3 touches thetopof the can, so that the leg 2 inward toward the plug E slightly; so

putting it under-compression orjstoring energy in it, which energy, subsequently acts to force the; plug E upward from its seat: once the initial; tight frictional grip is overcome. Also, this stiflly resilient quality of the leg 2 and its foot 4 permits' the same .to'yield slightly and thus renders less thenrisk of marri-ngt-he top when consider able force is, necessary ,toovercome the frictional grip, between the: plug E and its seat D.

:Bynot tightly pressing the beade' against the 7 under face of'the rim e I leave a. partiaIIyLOpen.

bead or:curl;having a radially inwardly presented edge facefi vertically spaced fromthe lower face ofthe rimqegand' extending in the path of the upper'endsof the fingers 1 when in the positions further rotation of the lever F, partic'ularly'in case the plug E has a real tight frictional seat I, in, and is tightly gripped by, the seat D, will bend illustrated in Fig. 4 and so preventing the separation of the lifter from the plug E by radially outward movement of the lifter in the horizontal plane of the plug E when the parts are in such relationship, and the curved or cam face 3 engaging with the external face of the cone portion of the plug E when moved to the position illustrated in Fig. 4 prevents the further movement of the lifter with relation to the plug E in that direction to such position as might permit separation of the lifter from the plug.

I claim:

1. A friction closure plug for a receptacle having an opening defined by a frictional sealing seat, said plug having a vertically extending wall and being formed with a radially outwardly extending rim and with a flange integral with said rim and presenting an annular stop shoulder spaced vertically downwardly away from said rim and radially outwardly from the opposed vertically extending wall of said plug, in combination with a receptacle opener comprising a substantially rigid operating lever, a leg integral with and extending substantially vertically down ward from said lever, a stifliy resilient prying foot integral with said leg and extending upwardly and radially outwardly therefrom, a rounded cam face formed at the point of mergence of said foot and leg, and means carried by said lever to loosely slidably permanently connect said opener and plug, said means comprising fingers engaging said stop shoulder in the extreme operative position of the lever and preventing the separation of the opener and plug, said prying foot in such extreme outward movement of the lever engaging the vertically extending outer face of the plug.

2. A friction closure plug for a receptacle having an opening defined by a frictional sealing seat, said plug having a vertically extending wall and being formed with a radially outwardly extending rim and with a flange integral with the outer portion of said rim and presenting acontinuous stop shoulder spaced vertically downwardly away from said rim and outwardly from the opposed vertically extending wall of said plug,

in combination with a receptacle opener comprising an operating lever, a leg integral with and extending substantially vertically downward from said lever, a stiflly resilient prying foot integral with said leg and extending upwardly and radially outwardly therefrom, a rounded cam face formed at the point of mergence of said foot and leg, and means carried by said lever to loosely slidably permanently connect said lever about the rim portion of said plug for free sliding and partial rotary movement in different planes, said means comprising a part extending up inside of said continuous shoulder and engaging the face thereof in one position of the lever to prevent separation of said opener from said plug.

3. An opener for a receptacle closed by a plug having a peripheral annular bead, said opener comprising an operating lever, and prying means integral with and depending from said lever said prying means comprising a leg integral with and extending substantially vertically downward from said lever, a stiffiy resilient prying foot integral with said leg and extending upwardly and radially outwardly therefrom, and a rounded cam face formed at the point of mergence of said foot and leg, in combination with a finger integral with said lever and extending radially outwardly beyond the bead of said plug and down inwardly below said bead, and a lug integral with said lever to loosely engage the inner face of said plug, said finger and lug being so formed and in such spaced relation to each other that in any given position of the lever some portion of said lug will engage some opposed face portion of the plug before the finger has been moved to such position that it will clear the bead by movement of the lever as a whole in any given direction with relation to the plug, and said prying means being of such length and so disposed relative to said finger and lug that it will engage an opposed face of the plug to prevent continued movement in the same direction of the lever after said finger has moved into engagement with the radially inner face of said bead.

SEYMOUR BATDORF. 

